An overwhelming number of South African teenagers are confident about the future of the country, according to preliminary results of a study conducted by the University of Witwatersrand released on Wednesday.
The study sought to establish how teenagers view South Africa. More than 2 000 children who were born shortly after former president Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 took part in the study.
”… Ninety-five percent of the cohort said that they are proudly South African while 5% said they were not,” said Dr Shane Norris, project manager of Birth to Twenty, a running study of child health and development.
He said 89% of the children envisaged a positive future in the country while 11% were pessimistic about it.
”It is clear that government, teachers and parents need to promote and harness the optimism and hopefulness of youth, and empower them to effect change and realise the ‘South African dream’,” Norris said.
The study revealed that teenagers are ”extremely aware and astute regarding the challenges facing South Africa”.
”Despite these challenges, the overwhelming majority are proudly South African and hopeful of their future,” he said.
Norris said that as the children grow older, their views change and this will impact on their decisions along the way to adulthood.
”These are some of the questions that the study hopes to investigate over the coming years as these teenagers become young adults.”
Among 13-year-old children from varying socio-economic backgrounds, when asked what they liked most about the country, 26% said the people.
Twenty-four percent said they liked the natural beauty and 15% liked the government.
A total of 26% said the first thing they would do when they became president of South Africa, would be to create jobs, and 24% would reduce crime levels.
Fifteen percent said they would provide more housing for the homeless. — Sapa